This trip to Chicago was heavy on the work, light on the sightseeing, but as always a good one. I made my way Monday catching a 10:15 flight from Newark to O'Hare. Oddly, the flight was on time, even better, I got a good exit row seat, even better better, when we landed, we were actually early, even better better better, my baggage was waiting for me to pick up at the luggage carousel. I hopped the blue line into the city itself and walked a few blocks to the Club Quarters on the Chicago River. I made reservations at this one for a change since it is at a location that is a quite a bit closer to my favorite bookstore.
Continuing my good luck, my room was even ready, so I dropped my bags off, changed and made my way to work. I put in a busy few hours, and met a coworker who I've worked with for almost a year but never met in person until today. This happens a lot in my life. For dinner, my boss was nice enough to take us out to the Gage where I had a nice basket of fish and chips. Can't go wrong from that. After, I decided to make my way up to the Lego store (grabbing a few things) and then on to my favorite bookstore in Chicago, Afterwords, which I've talked about a 1000 times in this blog already. Not shockingly, I snag a bunch of books. I make my way back to my room and crash, since Tuesday is going to be a busy work day.
Tuesday was an extremely successful workday. One thing that was cool about it is I was in a fairly tall building where I got a great view of the city on a clear day. Later, I met up with a friend who needed tech support and fixed her laptop, which had not been able to perform windows updates since last February, which is kinda a bad thing. Dinner that night is some Chinese food.
Wednesday, I made my way out to Batavia, Illinois to work with Jennifer on creating some more classes. We met out there since it was Veteran's Day and the office was closed. I took the Metra back and forth and was able to spend some quality time re-watching season 1 of Battlestar Galactica, which I've been meaning to do for a long time while on the train. I got off the train at Union Station, and, instead of walking back, did one of those random things and took the Water Taxi back to Michigan and Wacker Drive. This was a great idea and I'm really glad I did this. I highly recommend it if you can when in Chicago. The ride was only 2 bucks and you get some great views of the city.
I drop my bags off at my hotel, then for some odd reason, make my way back to the same two places I did on Monday, Afterwords and the Lego store. Not shockingly again, I buy more stuff. I drop THAT stuff off, then make my way down to another favorite place, Miller's Pub. Those who read this blog know that I of course, had some butt steak, which I really like and gets better every time I eat it. I like Miller's Pub because you can chill out there, and it has a cool atmosphere that I like. I snag some extra bottles of Steak Sauce on the way out (they're really good) and call it a relatively early night. Although, I do stay up late watching more Battlestar.
Thursday is a work day too, and it's nice to catch up with people I talk to all the time but never see. I have a really nice lunch with my friend Allison who appreciates the coolnees/geekiness of the fact that I'm going to see Star Wars in concert on Sunday. I try to convince her to see the Fab Faux, who are going to be in Chicago that Saturday.
I make my way out to O'Hare, hoping that I get an earlier flight to get home earlier. When I get here, all my good luck from Monday evaporates as due to bad weather in NY, there are extensive delays, So, I write this as I wait, wondering when I'll get home....
I finally make it home around midnight. A quick long trip, so to speak.
